Historical Context

There is a lot that went into this play including things that happened right before it. The play was set in a 2008 Chicago. It was an election year, we were starting the recession and it was 7 years after 9/11. Crime was up in Chicago in 2008 which was why a lot of businesses had boards on their windows, or as their windows if there was a break in earlier, and they hadn't been able to get their window fixed. Throughout the play you see elements of all of this take place throughout the show. The shop itself was in a more rural area of Chicago, making it more dangerous to begin with and as the Donut Shop had been there for years, the Recession was obviously taking a toll on the shop as well. We also see a lot of Gang activity throughout the play. Not in the usual way we see, like maybe in a television show, but it is about a boy who owes a lot of money in gambling debts and being confronted about it by the collector. We also see a coming of age story which is seen throughout many plays, movies, books, and television shows alike; where the young man learns responsibility and is taken in by their older mentor like a son. There is also a little bit of compassion learned for the elder as well. He, who thinks the younger one is lazy and untrustworthy comes to learn why the younger one is the way he is and helps him grow. Stories like this have been seen throughout American literature all the time, but what they took from the real world during a 2008 Chicago added a lot of depth to the classic narritive.